Results tagged “Lyon” from Birmingham Mail - Restaurant Spy

A glance out of my study window reveals that despite a blue sky, the rain has started to fall. But it looks like a shower that will soon pass.

Which is reassuring because fairly soon I'll be walking half-a-mile down the road to the VIP launch of the Taste of Birmingham food festival at Cannon Hill Park.

Certainly the weather looks a whole lot better than it was when the event opened a year ago. It poured down and the grass was so soggy that even the walkways disappeared into the mud.

Nevertheless, last year was a cracking occasion and I'm sure this year will be just as good and probably better.

Birmingham is undeniably England's second city, no matter what arguments might be put forward by the quaint folk 80 or so miles north along the M6. We've also got a internationally renowned restaurant scene...unlike Manchester.

So it's appropriate that the Taste of Birmingham food festival at Cannon Hilll Park this July should feature a restaurant from Lyon - France's second city and a gastronomic paradise.

Its identity has not yet been revealed, but I'm told it's a top place. This is another feather in Birmingham's culinary cap following our involvement as Britain's only city in the Delice project, which celebrates the world's foodie hotspots.

I'm never sure whether to be outraged or amused by the sneering ignorance with which the food critics of the national press routinely treat Birmingham.

They seldom venture beyond the capital and, when they do reach this city and happen upon a place with quality, can't resist expressing surprise that Birmingham restaurants serve food other than the balti.

There was a time when our restaurants were few and those of a high standard were fewer still. But those days have long gone. We've got places such as Simpson's, Purnell's, Lasan, Shanghai Ye, Opus, Turner's in Harborne, Pascal's in Edgbaston, the Town House in Solihull and many other great places to eat.